New Delhi, Dec 2 (IANS): Microsoft has announced a standalone offering to its collaboration platform Teams for small businesses at only $4 per user per month.

Called Microsoft 'Teams Essentials', the offering brings together features small businesses need to serve customers, including unlimited group video calls for up to 30 hours, group chat, file sharing, and calendaring.

"With Teams Essentials, small businesses from restaurants to retailers to professional services can easily meet, collaborate, communicate, and serve customers in new ways," said Jared Spataro, Corporate Vice President for Microsoft 365.

While the free version of Microsoft Teams is still available, Teams Essentials offers extended limits like longer meetings and more storage.

"With the ability to host up to 300 people at once, Teams Essentials offers the ability to bring everyone into the same virtual room," the company announced.

Teams Essentials simplifies communications for small businesses and community groups with a single solution for chat and meetings.

Teams Essentials offers a total of 10 gigabytes (GB) file storage, which is twice the amount of storage available in the free version of Teams.

"All conversations in Teams are persistent, helping you to keep the conversation going so you never lose context or continuity. The conversation doesn't end when the meeting ends," Microsoft said.

Teams Essentials runs in the Azure Cloud.